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Boeing’s Starliner Spacecraft — Finally — Blasts Into Orbit

  • Flight is Boeing’s third vehicle launch effort since late 2019
  • NASA wants two crew transport systems for space-station trips
The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Starliner space capsule lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida on May 19.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Starliner space capsule lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida on May 19.

Photographer: Gregg Newton/AFP/Getty Images
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Boeing Co. and NASA launched the long-delayed Starliner space capsule for a planned rendezvous with the International Space Station, following two earlier failed attempts for a program that has bedeviled the company and left SpaceX as the only American option for ferrying astronauts.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launched the craft, without crew, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:54 p.m. ET Thursday for a day-long cruise to the space station.